The Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) has charged that the Government was behind the threat to Dr. Lalantha Ranasinghe by throwing a hand grenade at his house. Dr. Ranasinghe who is an active member of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) was openly against the privatisation of hospitals and was a critic of the Government.
Issuing a news release on this incident the FSP condemned the Government stating that the authorities were trying to toy with the education and health sectors in Sri Lanka regardless of the protests of the public.
“It is very clear to us that the reason behind this attack is politically motivated due to the manner in which the Government and the Police reacted. The attack on Dr. Ranasinghe’s residence is another step in the Government’s plan to establish the private medical faculty in Malabe and to privatize the education system in Sri Lanka. Teachers, students, doctors and lecturers are all against this medical faculty. And now since the SLMC has refused to grant legal consent to it, the Government is attacking the members of the SLMC,” the news release stated.
It further listed the names of the other doctors who were also attacked or threatened due to this reason referring to the SLMC Registrar Dr. N.J. Nonis and the SLMC Chairperson Lalitha Mendis.
“The reason behind this attack is the rejection of the proposals the Government brought in to legalize the privatization of medical faculties i n Sri Lanka and to permit medical students who have completed half of their degrees in Sri Lanka and half abroad to become doctors and also the rejection of the proposal to bring doctors from India to Sri Lanka. So now, since the proposals were rejected by the GMOA the Government was trying to achieve these objectives through anti-democratical means by conducting various attacks,” the news release also stated.
BY JAYASHIKA PADMASIRI
Aug 20, 2012
Source: Daily Mirror – Sri Lanka
IL